The genus Cinnamomum has 250 species distributed from South, East and South East Asia to Australia. There are eight species of cinnamon grown in Sri Lanka, of which, Cinnamomum verum Pres1 (syn. C. zeylanicum Blume) which is widely cultivated in the country. In addition, seven other species of wild cinnamon are also grown which are endemic to Sri Lanka which are considered wild cinnamon. In this study, six Cinnamomum species were selected namely Cinnamomum verum, Cinnamomum dubium Nees (Sinhala: Sewel Kurundu or Wal Kurundu), Cinnamomum citriodorum (Sinhala: Pangiri Kurundu), Cinnamomum rivulorum Kostermans, Cinnamomum sinharajense Kostermans, Cinnamomum capparu-corende (Sinhala: Kapuru Kurundu). Much work has been carried out with Cinnamomum verum, however, work on wild cinnamon varieties is scanty. In this backdrop, this study was carried out to identify and quantify the major chemical constituents of volatile oils obtained from bark and leaves of wild and true cinnamon species cultivated or grown in Sri Lanka. It was revealed that leaf oil of Cinnamomum verum contains significantly (p<0.05) higher percentage of volatile oil (3.23%). The highest bark oil content (3.53%) was observed in Cinnamomum sinharajense, the lowest leaf oil (0.41%) and stem bark oil (0.51%) contents were observed in the Cinnamomum rivulorum. Fifteen major volatile chemical constituents were identified by Liquid Gas Chromatographic analysis in the essential oils obtained from bark and leaf of different cinnamon species. The highest cinnamaldehyde content (67.57%) was observed in Cinnamomum verum. Cinnamomum sinharajense contained comparatively higher amount of cinnamaldehyde (57.46%) than the other wild cinnamon species. The highest euginol content (87.53%) was observed in Cinnamomum sinharajense leaf. When compared with the chemical composition of Cinnamomum dubium leaf oil, geraniol was the most abundant (24.05%) among the volatile chemical constituents. β-Caryophyllene (41.31%) was identified in Cinnamomum dubium stem bark oil. The highest Euginol (22.29%) content was present in essential oil obtained from Cinnamomum rivulorum stem bark which was not observed in other cinnamon species.

BackgroundThis study was carried out to evaluate the prognostic value of KIBRA in breast cancer.MethodsThis retrospective study included breast cancer patients who sought the services of the immunohistochemistry laboratory of our unit from 2006 to 2015. Tissue microarrays were constructed and immunohistochemical staining was done to assess the KIBRA expression. The Kaplan-Meier model for univariate and Cox-regression model with backward stepwise factor retention method for multivariate analyses were used. Chi square test was used to find out the associations with the established prognostic features.ResultsA total of 1124 patients were included in the study and KIBRA staining of 909 breast cancers were available for analysis. Cytoplasmic KIBRA expression was seen in 39.5% and nuclear expression in 44.8%. Overall KIBRA–low breast cancers accounted for 41.5%. KIBRA nuclear expression was significantly associated with positive ER and PR expression. Luminal breast cancer patients who had endocrine therapy and KIBRA-low expression had a RFS disadvantage over those who were positive for KIBRA (p = 0.02). Similarly, patients who received chemotherapy and had overall KIBRA-low expression also demonstrated a RFS disadvantage compared to those who had overall positive KIBRA expression (p = 0.018). This effect of KIBRA was independent of the other factors considered for the model.ConclusionOverall low-KIBRA expression has an independent effect on the RFS and predicts the RFS outcome of luminal breast cancer patients who received endocrine therapy and breast cancer patients who received chemotherapy.

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Introduction: Papillary carcinoma of the thyroid is the commonest cancer in the thyroid with an increasing incidence over the past few decades. A subset of papillary carcinomas was re-classified into "Non-invasive Follicular Thyroid Neoplasm with papillary-like nuclear features" (NIFTP) in late 2017, due to the excellent prognosis they exhibit. Identification of NIFTP is important because surgical management and follow up is similar to follicular adenoma, thus reducing the psychological burden to patient, eliminating unnecessary exposure to radiation and economic burden to the society. This study intended to assess the prevalence and the inter-observer consistency in identifying NIFTP in the study sample.Methods: This retrospective, descriptive, cross-sectional study included all thyroid specimens received at our department in 2017. Thyroid neoplasms with a potential for reclassification to NIFTP were reassessed according the WHO criteria by two investigators who were blinded to the previous and each other's diagnoses.Results: Out of the 256 thyroid specimens received, 74/256 (28.90%) considered to have potential to be reclassified as NIFTP which included 34 cancers. Only 5/74 (6.75%) satisfied the criteria for NIFTP. Three NIFTPs had been reported as papillary microcarcinoma and the other two as follicular variant of papillary carcinoma. Inter-observer consistency in re-classifying the 74 tumours was 94.6%, with a 100% consistency in diagnosing NIFTP. Following re-classification, the proportion of cancers in the study sample reduced to 56/256 (21.87%) from 61/256 (23.82%). The prevalence of NIFTP in the study sample was 1.95% (5/256). Conclusions:The prevalence of NIFTP in the study sample is comparable to the Asian population. The current study reports a high inter-observer consistency in recognizing NIFTP among potential lesions, most likely due to the strict adherence to WHO criteria.